Leeds boss Daniel Farke felt his side’s 1-1 draw with struggling Luton at Kenilworth Road was definitely a point gained in their quest to reach the Premier League.
The Hatters had taken the lead when Izzy Jones volleyed home his first goal for the club in the 15th minute before Daniel James curled home an equaliser just before the half-hour mark.
Manor Solomon missed a glorious late chance to win it as the end result, coupled with Burnley’s 2-1 win at Coventry, saw the Whites drop out of the top two, with Farke saying: “This was a hard-fought point.
“We knew that it would always be a difficult game today because let’s be honest, Luton were playing in the Premier League last season, with not the worst points tally I have to say.
“Many of the players have played in the Premier League, of course they are underperforming in terms of where they want to be in the Championship, but you got the feeling in recent weeks they have realised what they want to do to stick together to fight in order to survive in this league.
“They are on the up, impressive results, impressive performances, especially in the home games, they’ve dominated more or less many games, but I liked the reaction of my lads as we didn’t get nervous when they scored. We stayed cool, we equalised with a great finish from Daniel James and you have to make sure you don’t allow any more chances.
“You just have to concentrate on yourself and, for me… of course I would have preferred three points today, if Manor put that chance away, it would make our life easier, but I also have to judge what I see and I liked our spirit, our togetherness, but we also overcame the adversity.
“It’s definitely one point gained. You can never underestimate, especially during this time a point on the road, also a point against a side who’s fighting with the knife between the teeth against relegation, so for me it was one of the toughest games of the run-in.”
After home goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski made a stunning save from Junior Firpo early on, the Belgian also repelling Solomon’s 20-yarder, Town went ahead thanks to Jones’ well-judged volley from Jordan Clark’s cross.
United were not behind for long, James bending a shot into the far corner as, after the break, recalled Leeds keeper Karl Darlow saved well from Thelo Aasgaard.
The Whites might have won it, substitute Patrick Bamford denied by Kaminski before Solomon’s glaring miss, but Luton moved a point closer to safety.
Town boss Matt Bloomfield said: “It’s a performance to be well and truly proud of, a club to be proud of today.
“We knew that the quality that Leeds had in possession then we’d have to be disciplined and structured, but I thought we pressed at the appropriate moments.
“I thought Leeds started really well, had a couple of good opportunities, so Thomas had to make a couple of saves, but we built ourselves into it, a great move for the goal, but in the main we have to be really pleased with our performance.
“In the main I thought it was a really good defensive display, to a man the work rate and effort and intensity was brilliant and the crowd really responded, they were roaring them on.
“It’s a performance to be proud of, it’s a point on our total, we’ve still got a lot of work ahead, we’ve got six games and lots more points that we need. We have to be relentless and we understand that, but it’s a point, it keeps our momentum going and it sends us up to Stoke in good spirits on Tuesday.”
